Evaluation of a Safety and Occupational Health Specialist
Jeremy T. Gugliotta
University of Maryland University College

This report is on the optimal evaluation of a Safety and Occupational Health Specialist (SOHS), a Federal Government employee. The evaluation has been developed in research conducted as part of Managing People and Groups in the Global Workplace AMBA 620, part of the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) MBA program. The job duties for this position change as does the knowledge base in reference to the grade salary (GS) associated with the position (Office of Personnel Management, 2015). In this report, the SOHS of a GS 7 at the Social Security Administration (SSA) will be the position the evaluation is created for.
The SOHS is a Federal employee whose main task is the application of principles, standards, and techniques in a broad variety of organizational settings with intentions of ensuring the safe work environment for all employees, and visitors (Office of Personnel Management, 2015). At the GS 7 position, an SOHS primary duty is the identification of hazards, along with evaluation in regards to industrial work recommending corrective procedures in aid of preventing individual or property damage (Office of Personnel Management, 2015).
In the position of SOHS, there are many factors to evaluate; they all must ensure the positive portrayal of the organization because customer satisfaction is the priority of SSA (Social Security Administration, 2015). The constant interaction with outside entities require that one must be good at interpersonal citizenship behavior, ability in knowledge work, service work, and task performance (Colquitt, 2013). Understanding the factors involved with the SOHS position shows how an SOHS can reflect the SSA in the eyes of individuals, and their organizations (Social Security Administration, 2015).
The initial meeting will be between that of the manager, and the employee to discuss the expectations of the position. This will prevent the uninformed employee from making mistakes unintentionally, an offering them a fair chance at success. In this initial meeting, the manager will present the tasks and performance measures of successful standards:
Engages in Learning:
Training accompanied by questions, research of pertinent information, and successful completion of assignments
Correctly processing work and accurately, completing of on-the-job training, requesting assistance when needed
Shows potential for independent completion of work
Interpersonal Skills:
Public and fellow employees treated with respect, and courtesy
Ability to listen and respond to feedback from public, coworkers, employees, and managers
Effective communication
Positive attitude maintained throughout productive work relationships within organization, group, or unit

The fact that this initial meeting has taken place will alleviate any possible legal problem or confusion on the matter. At the meeting there will be a signed and dated documentation of meeting discussion by both parties, this will be kept in an employee file (digital, or hard copy) preventing any backlash of a legal manner (Schmitt, 2014). The documentation of the meeting will provide management a copy, and the employee with a baseline understanding. The documentation will have the training, duties, and expectations of the employee stating they were read to the employee (Qadeer F, 2014).
The initial meeting with the employee will also be a discussion of the ratings that one can receive at the annual assessment (Scott B. Morris, 2015). The ratings will consist of a 5-point system with 1-5 as the possible ratings to achieve. The rating of 1 is the lowest possible to achieve, showing a need for dismissal with support of documentation showing poor performance. The rating of a 1 will require multiple one-on-one consultations providing documented reasoning for the low rating. Things such as inability to complete tasks on